The plea deal that resulted in 24 days of jail time and two years of Florida-style house arrest (they call it “community control"; it’s basically “house arrest lite”) has resulted in plenty of criticism regarding the perception that Browns receiver Donte’ Stallworth caught barely a slap on the wrist for pleading guilty to felony DUI manslaughter.
And so now Stallworth is trying to get an even better deal.
Wow.
Per ESPN.com, a judge in Miami will be hearing arguments regarding a potential reduction of Stallworth’s remaining sentence.
Our guess is that Stallworth fears that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell might suspend Stallworth until he has fully emerged from custody, and that “community control” is being regarded by Goodell as being in custody.
In our recent PFTV segment regarding the possible Stallworth sentence, we pointed out that there’s a chance Goodell will tell Stallworth that the privilege of playing in the NFL doesn’t extend to players who are on any form of house arrest.
That chance might be a little more significant than we previously believed.
Really, why else would Stallworth risk a further P.R. nightmare by creating the impression that he wants an even sweeter deal than the one to which he previously agreed?
UPDATE: ESPN.com has since changed its report, omitting reference to any effort to reduce the length of the house arrest and explaining that the goal was only to secure advance approval to work out.